Boud and Experiential Learning

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Transcript of Boud and Experiential Learning

Takako Kumada Boud’s Experiential Learning Experience and Learning Dewey (1934, p.35) David Boud and Reflection in Experiential Learning David Boud is adding to prior work by scholars such as Kolb (1984), Schön (1983, 1987), Jarvis (1987) and Heron (1989, 1993), focusing on reflection in learning.

For the profile of David Boud, go to his page at http://cfsites1.uts.edu.au/fass/staff/listing/details.cfm?StaffId=2530 at the University of Technology Sydney) Boud’s Model of Learning (1994) This model covers three stages of engagement in a learning event:1. Activities and experiences prior to the event2. Those during the event3. Those which occur subsequently “Experience occurs continuously because the interaction of live creature and environing condition is involved in the very process of living”.

Learning from the experience is an act of meaning making mediated through communication. What is Reflection? Boud defines reflection as:

“a process of turning experience into learning”, which is, “taking the unprocessed, raw material of experience and engaging with it to make sense of what has occurred” (Boud, 2001)

“those intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new understandings and appreciations.” (Boud, Keogh and Walker, 1985) Three types of Reflection Boud categorizes reflection into three types (Boud, 2001):

1. Reflection in anticipation of events2. Reflection in the midst of action3. Reflection after events Boud’s Two Assumptions The Basic AssumptionLearning is always grounded/rooted in prior experience and that any attempt to promote new learning must consider that experience in some way. (Boud, 1994, 2001)

The Second AssumptionThe process of learning from experience is necessarily an active one involving learners in engaging with and intervening in the events of which they are part. (Boud, 1994, 2001) Example of Boud’s Application ofReflection to Learning Boud (2001) examines journal writing in terms of how it enhances an individual’s learning.Writing journals helps their writers to keep records of events and experiences and also process and re-form those events and experiencesWriting journals can play an important role in all of the three types of reflection.Inhibitors: Pressure from journal readers’ prospects and expectations; the tension between assessment of learning and reflection that requires the writer to “focus on uncertainty, on perplexing events, of exploration without necessarily knowing where it will lead.” Prior to the Event The focus is placed on the learner, the milieu, and skills/strategies

What is already available to, or what is missing from the learner, the milieu and the learner’s skills and strategies before the actual learning activities start? In the Midst of the Event Learners guide themselves by noticing, intervening, and reflection-in-action through the milieu in accordance with their intents and what is available for them to use in this process.Noticing: An act of becoming aware of what is happening in and around oneselfIntervening: Any action taken by the learner within the learning situation affecting the learning milieu or the learner.Reflection-in-action: The process of working with noticing and intervening to interpret events and the effects of one's interventions. Following the Event Much important learning can occur through the following three elements (See also Boud, Keogh, and Walker, 1985, 1996):1. Return to experience: Mentally revisiting and vividly portraying the focus experience2. Attending to feelings: Focusing on the feelings and emotions which are/were present. People need to work through any negative feelings that have arisen and eventually set those aside while retaining and enhancing the positive feelings. If the negative feelings are not addressed, learning can be blocked.3. Re-evaluate the experience: Using the experience as a way of getting the learner ready for new experiences and thus new learning. Four important activities are suggested for the re-evaluation. Four Activities in the Re-evaluation 1. Association: Relating of new information to that which is already known2. Integration: Seeking relationships between the new and old information3. Validation: Determining the authenticity for the learner of the ideas and feelings which have resulted4. Appropriation: Making knowledge one’s own, a part of one’s normal ways of operating Critique Boud recognizes the importance of context (e.g. social, cultural) in shaping an individual’s experience (Boud and Walker, 1991; Boud 1994).